News and activities at Norma Marion Alloway Library, Trinity Western University

May 18, 2010

Google to enter e-book market

According to CBC News, Google plans to start selling digital books this summer through a service called Google Editions. The service, launching in late June or July, would put the search-engine giant in competition with Amazon and Apple, with one difference: Google's service would work through a web browser and wouldn't be tied to a specific device.

Google said users would be able to buy digital copies of books they find through the Google Books search engine. The e-books would be accessible on any device that has a compatible web browser. That sets Google Editions apart from Amazon and Apple which are tied to specific devices including Kindle, iPad and iPhone. Because Google Editions works through a browser it can be used on a variety of devices: desktop computers, netbooks, smartphones — even the Kindle and iPad.

Google's e-book store plans appear to be separate from the company's effort to digitize out-of-print books into a searchable database.